Dead Wood [Haiku]

tree becomes log,
 which becomes fungi food:
   treeness transformed. 

Fluid Movement [Haiku]

floating downstream,
 moving unpredictably:
  a dry leaf. 

DAILY PHOTO: Gate to the Bibi Ka Maqbara

Image

Second-Rate Colossus [Free Verse]

Bibi ka Maqbara; Aurangabad

What a thing it is to be 
   trapped under a shadow.

To be grand,
  but not the grandest.

To be old,
  but not the oldest.

To argue your distinction,
  but be too similar to avoid 
   comparison to the marvel.

Better to be a shoddy original
 than a second-rate colossus. 

Lazy Cowbell [Haiku]

bovines graze
 in desiccated pastures:
  lazy cowbell.

Autumn Crickets [Haiku]

distant cricket chirps:
 from the next hill, I wonder?
  now, one at my feet.

DAILY PHOTO: Bangalore Wetlands

PROMPT: Oldest Possession

What’s the oldest thing you own that you still use daily?

I think that would be a compass that I got thirty-some years ago.